Runner's Den Fiesta Bowl 1/2 Marathon Race Report

Chip Time: 2:10:57
Garmin: 2:11:01
New Personal Record!

For one of the first times in a race, I put a little extra focus on tangents (and choosing a mute taxi driver that would scurry me to the ten mile mark), and finished the race at exactly 13.1 miles on the Garmin. Actually it was 13.11, but I didn't stop it until after all the paparazzi had taken their gratuitous photos of me for the tabloids. Seriously, nice job on keeping mile splits even with the course. And I set a Personal Record for the Half marathon distance by 9 minutes and 19 seconds!

This is the third time I have run this race, and I am a big fan. All the events that are put on by Runners Den are well organized, popular, and full of good spirit. There were 1,082 half marathoners and a huge number of 5K'ers. They started the 1/2 M people at 7:30 and the 5K about 15 minutes later so there was no overlap.   I was in line to hit the porta-potty as the gun went off but no worries, I just walked up to the start line and started. My goal was to run this at 10 min/mile pace and I hit it at 9:59, though I watched a 9:45 overall average slip away in miles 10-13.

9:58 9:53 9:43
31 minute 5K

9:41 9:53 10:18
61 minute 10K

9:44 9:47 9:44
some time in the bank

10:21 10:11 10:21 10:21
withdrawals from the bank
9:30 for the kick

I was pretty sure I could do this based on my runs lately, and I was glad that I didn't completely flop in the last few miles. My water and Gu plan seemed to work pretty good. I never had to stop at an aide station. You can see the walk in mile 6 for a Gu, and again in mile 9, then something curious happened which I had never noticed before in a race. As I ran up on small groups, I found myself almost automatically falling into pace with them, and I found that they were running slower than my plan, though I doubt I would have noticed if it weren't for the Garmin. I think my mind was trying to distract me and convince me that the slower pace was what I had been running. So lesson learned --new underwear every day no matter what follow the pacer whether it is strapped to my wrist or holding a sign.  I plan to keep putting in long runs on the weekend to build endurance. I think I could easily run a sub 2:10 with some steady work. And sub 2:00 is the goal for this coming year.

Speaking of pacers, I was chatting with the 2:07 pacer prior to start and thought I would go out with them and fall back later in the race, but she said she was going to try to run 9:35's and then make water station stops and slow as the race progressed. That style does not jive with RTP, so I left them alone and ran alone.

I had to get back to the homestead after finishing, so I left pretty quick. But not before grabbing a free Chocolate Muscle Milk Lite. Yuck fuckity yuck!!! SUAR, what are you endorsing?? A lot like chocolate Peptol Bismo might taste. Anyway, I did have my traditional post race chicken parmesan sub sandwich and Metro Mint Peppermint water. Love that stuff. And besides two serious toe tip blisters, I'm in good shape. Thanks Runner's Den for a well-organized event!